Great minds must think alike! I also gave one to my dad a few Christmases ago as a gag gift - when his 'real' present was actually a Logitech Harmony universal remote. I spent hours programming all his A/V gear into the Logitech for him. I also programmed the giant remote to work the TV/Cable box too so he'd have it as a backup.

Last time I went home, the giant remote was the one in fulltime use, and the Logitech was in the drawer :)

54
posted on 01/27/2010 11:11:48 AM PST
by bamahead
(Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master. -- Sallust)

Now we’re switching gears to iWork. Create a version of iWork for the iPad. Initial reaction was that they were really heavy duty apps that require a lot of horsepower. Could tablet power them? Answer was a resounding “you betcha.” Could we come up with an entirely new interface for these apps? Very different from a personal computer.

10:58 PT - DM: So here’s Phil Schiller to talk about iWork on the iPad.

10:59 PT - DM: Schiller: iWork is a suite of applications that millions and millions of our customers really love. Home, business, and school customers can do word processing, presentations, and spreadsheets. Can you bring this software to a multi-touch product.

10:59 PT - DM: Completely new version of Keynote designed just for the iPad. Complete new version of Pagesthe most beautiful word processor that you will ever see. And Numbers: a spreadsheet that is fun and cool to usewhen’s the last time someone told you that? And Phil’s going to give us a demo.

11:00 PT - JS: Putting a “work” suite of apps on this device is a big deal, because it says that it’s not just a toy, not just for recreation, but also for people who want to get work done. That’s interesting because it broadens who Apple will sell this product to.

11:00 PT - DM: Keynote first. Keynote runs in landscape because slides are designed horizontally. First thing you see is slide library. Presentations that we’ve created in Keynote. Tap a button to create a new presentation, access to tempates. Choose one and you get the layout. Menu items on top and slide navigator on the left. Scroll with your finger to move around the slide navigator. Go to a slide? Just tap on it. Text, tables, charts.

11:02 PT - JS: I assume that Amazon will be allowed to build its own app for iPad, as it has for iPhone. So there may be an outlet for Kindle owners.

11:01 PT - DM: How do you move a slide around in the navigator without a keyboard or mouse? Tap and hold, drag it wherever you want and now you’ve rearranged your slide. Can select multiple slides by tapping and holding and then tapping additional slides. Here’s a slide with images: how do you get those in? Grab them from your photo albums with a media navigator. Drag your photo where you want. To resize, grab a handle and start resizing. Want to match size? While resizing tap another photo and it matches. Want to do a mask? Just tap and pan around.

11:03 PT - DM: What else? Animations. Tap the animation mode. Tap an animation, and you can choose one and it previews it. With just a finger you’re doing very advanced slide animation techniques. Hit the play button and we’re presenting. Tap or swipe to go forward.

11:04 PT - JS: The more I see about this device, the more I start to think that Apple really does want you to replace your laptop with this thing. At least for some tasks that people currently use laptops for because there’s been no other option.

11:04 PT - DM: So that’s Keynote. Let’s look at Pages. Same sort of set up at the beginning: a library of documents, and access to templates. Scroll through the text. Tap anywhere and up comes a keyboard. And there’s a rulerThe most beautiful ruler you’ve ever seen! says Phil. New tool called Page Navigator. Hold finger on the right and it brings up a loupe that lets you skim through your pages. Automatic text wrap around a graphic. Tap and drag an image around and it automatically reflows text. Tap the info button to bring down control panel to change text styles.

11:06 PT - DM: And last, Numbers. Library of spreadsheets, templates. Tabs along the top: one doc can hold many spreadsheets. Here’s what you can do without a keyboard and mouse. Rearrange columns by tapping and and dragging. Move the columns to the end of the table and it auomatically updates linked chart.

11:08 PT - JS: Okay, some questions. Where do all these documents get saved, how do you view and open, and more importantly, how does it sync? Over a wire? Over the network? To a computer, or the cloud?

11:07 PT - DM: What about adding new rows of data and adding a subtotal? Tap button bottom left to add column and then double tap to bring up specific keyboard for data entry. Access to numbers, forumulas and functions, and text. Just want to add a sum on the coumn. Tap the SUM button and it automatically figures out the formula needed. Then just tap the green checkbox and we’re done. If you want to fill that across all of them. You could copy and paste, but it’s faster to just fill (uses same pop-up style menu as Copy/passte on the iPhone I note). Change style of graphs.

11:09 PT - JS: All this entry does make us ask the question, are you expected to type only on this device, or is there some sort of external keyboard option from Apple? Because if I could take iWork with me on the road, I might not want to type that entire Pages document by touchscreen.

11:10 PT - DM: Shows the power of the iPad to take difficult and advanced applications. So what are we going to charge? Just $9.99 each for applications. Three completely new apps, with new user interfaces, compatible with iWork on the Mac. Easily connect to projectors (aha!). Buy on the App Store, right from the App Store.

11:11 PT - DM: Steve’s back. The iPad syncs with iTunes on your Mac/PC just like the iPhone or iPod touch. Sync Photos, Music, Movies, TV shows, Contacts, Claendars, Bookmarks, Applications. Backups are synced back. Ever lose your iPad and get another one, restore it right from the backup.

11:12 PT - DM: Let’s talk about wireless networking. Every iPad has Wi-Fi, but we’re also going to have models with 3G cellular wireless data built in as well. Now, what does it cost for the data plans? In the US, telecoms charge about $60 a month for data plans for laptop. We got a real breakthrough here, two awesome plans for iPad owners. First one gives you up to 250MB a month. Most people will get by on that: just $14.99. Unlimited data if you feel you need more, for just $29.99. Breakthrough deal with AT&T. (Yes, it’s AT&T people.) And free use of Wi-Fi hotpots all throughout US.

11:14 PT - DM: Now how do you turn this on and manage it? Don’t have to go to store, just activate it on iPad. No contract: it’s pre-pay (somebody seriously just gave a whistle to that). Cancel anytime. We think it’s phenomenal.

11:15 PT - DM: Hope to have international deals in place by June/July. Gonna start on that tomorrow. All iPad 3G models are unlocked and use new GSM micro SIMs. So if carriers use micro SIMs, the existing iPad will just work.

11:18 PT - JS: It’s interesting, the flexibility they’ve built in here, and that’s a very good deal that they’ve struck with AT&T. But what will it mean for possibly doing carrier-subsidized prices?

11:16 PT - DM: So, iPad. Review time. Internet, e-mail, best device for photos. Great for enjoying music. Video is phenomenal. Runs almost all 140,000 apps on the App Store as well as a whole new generation of apps. And it has a new iBooks application with iBook Store. Carry literally thousands of books around on your iPad. And the iWork suite for doing productivity.

11:17 PT - DM: What should we price it at? If you listen to the pundits we’re going to price it at $999. When we set out to develop the iPad we not only had very ambitious technical goals and user interface goals, but we had a very aggressive price goal. We want to put this in the hands of lots of people. And just like we were able to meet or exceed our technical goals, we have met our pricing goals. Starts at $499!

11:19 PT - JS: That’s huge. Did anyone expect it to start at $499? I am starting to think they will sell a ton of these at that price.

11:18 PT - DM: At $499 a lot of people can afford an iPad. $499 for 16GB is the base model. For 32GB it’s $100 more, for another $100 you get 64GB of storage. The 3G models cost an extra $130 to build in radios. $629, $729, $829. These are the six models. The most expensive model is just $829. Unbelievable price.

11:20 PT - DM: When can you get your hands on one? 60 days, worldwide availability. Another 30 days to get 3G models through approval process, so about 90 days for 3G models. Soon you will be able to get an iPad in your hands for just $499.

The problem with touch-screen keyboards is that they offer absolutely no tactile feel - you have to look to find home row, and you can't feel the keys under your fingers. They just don't allow one to type as fast.

This one looks a little smaller than the standard keyboard as well. My netbook has a 92% sized keyboard and it is harder to type on also. But at least I can feel the keys under my fingers.

I don't like the touch screen on the iPhone either, though I do like it's other capabilities. Of course, even with a proper keyboard, it is way too small to allow fast typing.

I am so mixed on this one. For $500 you get iWork and the eBook reader I assume (plus more), but only 16GB storage which is nothing these days. The main reason I want a tablet like this is basically for note taking and reading books (and ideally writing notes in the books for my reference). Therefore, storage really isn’t that big of a concern.

It looks as if there is no stylus which really sucks for me, but since it is a touch display, I can use a generic PDA stylus (won’t get pressure sensing though ... I had heard these iPads were going to support Wacom compliant pens).

That keyboard dock looks slick though and could be a decent substitute for a stylus.

The 3G is worthless to me as I have other means of accessing the net via a cellphone’s wifi. Wireless was mandatory for me though.

While this is the first Apple product I’ve found really appealing, I have the damndest feeling it is going to go the path of AppleTV simply because I really liked that, the Newton and other “failed” Apple products but hate iPods, iPhones, iMacs, etc.

I guess well know how they sell in a month or so! I’m definitely going to one of those filthy hippie Apple stores to check one out ASAP :-).

That's not bad... the Kindle lasts about two weeks even with heavy use, so they've still got that going for them. Amazon has the massive library and the delivery model pretty much nailed. But like usual, Apple has scored on form factor and design. I'd like to try one out. I don't know if it's a kindle-killer just yet.

99
posted on 01/27/2010 11:53:03 AM PST
by Ramius
(Personally, I give us... one chance in three. More tea?)

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